Reducing Vacancy Loss

As people move into homes, assisted facilities or just decide that they want to be somewhere else, it seems inevitable that there will be some sort of financial impact to losing a tenant. Even though this can create some amount of vacancy loss, there are ways that we can reduce the financial impact:

1. Complete comprehensive walkthroughs: It is best practice to create a notice to vacate checklist for the residents and maintenance technician for your property. As soon as you receive a notice to vacate, give the tenant the checklist and schedule a time to walk through the apartment prior to move out. Walking the unit beforehand allows the maintenance technician to create a list of what products and repairs will be needed. This gives ample time to order necessary items if they are not in stock and creates an expected timeline for the unit to be ready for new move in. This proactivity will set an expectation for the resident at move out and speed up the process of moving a new resident into the unit without losing weeks of rent.

2. Maintain an updated waitlist: While marketing the property is vital to getting your name out into your community, it is equally important to make sure that your waitlist is updated at least once a quarter. This allows you to easily ensure that numbers are still working, to ensure the potential tenant would still like to remain on the list and to quickly ask for updates on income and assets to prequalify.

3. Maintain good property conditions: No one wants disgruntled residents, so keeping up your units and making maintenance repairs promptly when requested is essential. A satisfied and well taken care of tenant is less likely to leave unless necessary.